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Russian police carry out mass raids against opposition activists Russian police carry out mass raids against opposition activists
(about 3 hours later)
Russian law enforcement authorities have carried out mass raids on the homes and offices of supporters of the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Russian state security services have carried out simultaneous nationwide raids on Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s regional headquarters four days after pro-Putin candidates suffered massive losses in the Moscow city assembly elections.
Searches took place in 39 towns and cities on Thursday, four days after the ruling United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, lost a third of its seats in the Moscow city assembly while retaining its dominant position nationwide. The operation, involving more than 1,000 officers in at least 200 individual raids and ostentatiously in connection with money-laundering charges Navalny says are politically motivated, was carried our across 40 towns and cities the length and breadth of Russia, from Murmansk in the Arctic to Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean. The homes of dozens of Navalny activists were also searched.
Navalny had urged his supporters to vote tactically in last weekend’s local and regional elections to try to reduce the chances of Kremlin-backed candidates winning seats, a strategy that appears to have had some success in the capital. Leonid Volkov, a key Navalny aide, described as a “pure act of political repression.”
“Putin is very angry,” Navalny wrote on social media after the raids. “This is a case where the actions of the police are no different from those of burglars.”
Authorities told activists that the searches were related to a money-laundering investigation into Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, an organisation that has published embarrassing investigations into what it says is the wrongdoing of corrupt officials.
Born in 1976 just outside Moscow, Alexei Navalny is a lawyer-turned-campaigner whose Anti-Corruption Foundation investigates the wealth of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. Born in 1976 just outside Moscow, Alexei Navalny is a lawyer-turned-campaigner whose Anti-Corruption Foundation investigates the wealth of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. 
He started out as a Russian nationalist, but emerged as the main leader of Russia's democratic opposition during the wave of protests that led up to the 2012 presidential election, and has since been a thorn in the Kremlin’s side. He started out as a Russian nationalist, but emerged as the main leader of Russia's democratic opposition during the wave of protests that led up to the 2012 presidential election, and has since been a thorn in the Kremlin’s side. 
Navalny is barred from appearing on state television, but has used social media to his advantage. A 2017 documentary accusing the prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, of corruption received more than 30m views on YouTube within two months. Navalny is barred from appearing on state television, but has used social media to his advantage. A 2017 documentary accusing the prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, of corruption received more than 30m views on YouTube within two months. 
He has been repeatedly arrested and jailed. The European court of human rights ruled that Russia violated Navalny's rights by holding him under house arrest in 2014. Election officials barred him from running for president in 2018 due to an embezzlement conviction that he claims was politically motivated. Navalny told the commission its decision would be a vote 'not against me, but against 16,000 people who have nominated me; against 200,000 volunteers who have been canvassing for me'. He has been repeatedly arrested and jailed. The European court of human rights ruled that Russia violated Navalny's rights by holding him under house arrest in 2014. Election officials barred him from running for president in 2018 due to an embezzlement conviction that he claims was politically motivated. Navalny told the commission its decision would be a vote 'not against me, but against 16,000 people who have nominated me; against 200,000 volunteers who have been canvassing for me'. 
There has also been a physical price to pay. In April 2017, he was attacked with green dye that nearly blinded him in one eye, and in July 2019 he was taken from jail to hospital with symptoms that one of his doctors said could indicate poisoning.There has also been a physical price to pay. In April 2017, he was attacked with green dye that nearly blinded him in one eye, and in July 2019 he was taken from jail to hospital with symptoms that one of his doctors said could indicate poisoning.
State investigators last month opened a criminal investigation into the alleged laundering of 1bn roubles (£12.2bn) by the foundation itself. It also froze a slew of bank accounts linked to the foundation, a move Navalny’s allies said was a trumped-up attempt to cripple his political movement. Navalny, 43, directly linked the raids to the Kremlin seeking revenge for its losses in Sunday’s election. Navalny, who was blocked from standing as a candidate, had instead urged his supporters to vote tactically at the polls to inflict the maximum possible electoral damage. Ratings for Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party has have slumped to a near-record low of around 32% amid growing poverty and a five-year increase in the national pension age.
Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s spokeswoman, said on Thursday that the scale and nature of the latest raids were unprecedented. “Putin is very upset,” Navalny said in an online video. He said that the raids were larger than any operation that Russian law enforcement agencies had ever carried out against corruption, drug-smuggling or terrorism. “It’s clear that only Putin himself could give the order for such a large-scale operation,” he said.
Leonid Volkov, another senior Navalny ally, published a list of towns and cities where activists had been targeted. Masked officers carrying automatic weapons detained an unknown number of activists for questioning, while computers and other equipment were removed from offices across Russia. Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, called the raids “an act of intimidation and robbery”.
“The overall number of searches is over 150 and no less than 1,000 Russian law enforcement employees are involved [in the raids],” Volkov wrote on social media. He linked the searches to Navalny’s tactical voting strategy and said the homes of activists, their relatives and the regional headquarters of Navalny’s movement were being targeted. Russia’s powerful Investigative Committee alleges that Navalny’s FBK anti-corruption organisation laundered one billion roubles (£12.2m) from 2016 to 2018. It said the money was “obtained by criminal means” and funnelled into a series of bank accounts in the guise of donations to the FBK from ordinary Russians. Investigators have given few other details and have not yet brought charges against anyone.
Activists were being taken in for questioning, and technical hardware was being confiscated, he said. Navalny has dismissed the accusations as an attempt to silence the work of the FBK, which has produced a number of reports about alleged high-level corruption, including by members of Putin’sinner circle. Investigators also froze more than 100 bank accounts linked to the FBK and its employees.
“The state has two tasks – to frighten and steal,” Volkov wrote. “It’s obvious that the aim of this operation is to destroy our headquarters structure and to obstruct the work of our [regional] headquarters.” Golos, an independent election monitoring group, also said that police searched the homes of its activists. Navalny’s headquarters in Moscow were raided by police before Sunday’s elections.
Golos, a non-governmental organisation that monitors Russian elections, said on Thursday that the homes of its activists were also being raided by the authorities. Abbas Gallyamov, a former Kremlin speechwriter turned political analyst, told the Vedomosti newspaper that the security service raids were an attempt to cripple Navalny’s network of activists before regional and governor elections due to take place next year across Russia. “There are practically no political tools left in the hands of the regime,” he said.
Navalny and his supporters organised a wave of protests after popular opposition politicians were barred from standing in the Moscow parliament election, prompting a police crackdown. “We are not going to stop our work,” Navalny said after the raids. “It’s going to be quite hard for a while, but we are not giving up.”
The 43-year-old opposition leader missed several of the rallies while serving a 30-day jail term for organising previous unauthorised protests.
RussiaRussia
Alexei NavalnyAlexei Navalny
Vladimir PutinVladimir Putin
EuropeEurope
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